Change, Configuration and Release 2014 Best in Class

ITinvolve has taken huge strides in the ITSM arena with Service Manager by embracing the adage “knowledge is power”. We feel that the developments that ITinvolve Service Manager has made with the fundamentals of knowledge and collaboration, ensuring that all relevant information is available to the right people at the right time (and in a straightforward way), enables risk assessment capabilities that far outweigh those of other ITSM solutions. This provides increased value to its Change, Configuration and Release capabilities.

Change, Configuration and Release Review Best in Class: ITinvolve

The way that these capabilities support and mold Change, Configuration and Release creates a product that gives control, intelligence and awareness back to the IT organisation.

Offered as a SaaS-only solution, ITinvolve states that Service Manager integrates with discovery products, and we feel proactively delivers timely and relevant information whenever needed. The solution greatly reduces the burden on staff and ensures risk can be quickly and accurately assessed.

Best for On-Premise

For those organisations looking for Change, Configuration and Release capabilities in an on-premise solution then Cherwell Service Management® would be our recommendation (please note that Cherwell Service Management® is also available as a SaaS solution).

We believe that Cherwell Service Management® has the functionality the vast majority of organisations require to operate an efficient and successful management of Change, Configuration and Release processes.

Introduction

The only thing constant in life is change, and this is never truer than in an IT organisation.

In order to get a handle on the myriad of modifications and developments occurring within IT many organisations turn to frameworks, such as ITIL, for guidance on best practice. Change, Configuration and Release Management are three processes that group together favourably and are a valuable continuance for businesses unsure where to progress following successful adoption of Incident, and in some cases Problem Management.

Configuration Management is the process used to track individual Configuration Items (CIs) and the way in which they interact with one another

Change Management is the process used to track and communicate any changes in service that may impact the customer, such as when systems are taken offline for updates

Release Management is the process of managing software releases from development right through to release

Each process can be used individually, but more often than not you will find these processes intertwined. For example, when considering either a Change or Release you will need to know the CI’s that will be affected before you begin.

As listed above it is ITSM Review’s opinion that Configuration should come first. We believe that if you can get Configuration right then Change and Release will be infinitely more straightforward. Establishing that any prospective ITSM tool can record all information for a CI in an easy-to-document-and-locate approach will minimise risk both to individuals and the organisation as a whole.

Too often we see cases where needless mistakes occur during the management of Change and Release due to critical information not being easily accessible. Upon investigation the result is usually that the documentation was circulated and then filed away with the expectation that it would be read in infinite detail and re-read upon any future modifications of said item. There are several issues with this:

There is a finite amount of time in a day to read the multitude of documents one comes across

There is a finite amount of storage within a brain to remember which items have related documents squirreled away

People only know what they know

You can blame individuals after mistakes occur by stating that documentation should have been sought out, or you can employ processes that take the guess work (and leg work) out of the equation in conjunction with using an ITSM tool that offers up the information to the right people at the right time.

In this review we have looked at a range of ITSM products covering Change, Configuration and Release Management, targeting all market sizes.

Market Positioning (Target Market Size)

For the purposes of this review, vendors were classified based on their primary market focus, and product capabilities.

Vendor

Small

Medium

Large

Very Large

Axios

0%

0%

75%

25%

Cherwell

1%

14%

65%

20%

ITinvolve

0%

75%

12.5%

12.5%

TOPdesk

35.32%

53.63%

10.47%

0.54%

Approach

Vendor

On Premise/Saas

Separate Release Module

Discovery Tool own/Third Party

Axios

Both

No

Both (version dependent)

Cherwell

Both

No

Both

ITinvolve

Saas

No

Third Party

TOPdesk

Both

No

Both (version dependent)

Competitive Overview

Vendor

Elevator Pitch

Strengths

Weaknesses

Axios

Axios assyst is a solid, mature and well-rounded tool marketed towards organisation with 1,000+ end users.The functionality and design of assyst provides the ability to manage both simple and complex workflow processes to support the management of change and request.Available both as a SaaS solution and on premise – with concurrent and named licenses – assyst provides a flexible model to fit around your business.

Easy to collaborate on changes etc., reducing the need for the use of external software

Requires experience and an increased investment in time to implement release management if your existing process is complex

Cherwell

Cherwell Service Management is a functionality-rich and user-friendly tool.The flexibility of Cherwell Service Management allows customers to automate existing change and configuration processes without the need to compromise the status quo to fit around the tool.With Cherwell Choice concurrent licensing and flexible hosting model, you can choose what works best for your business — Pay-as-you-go or perpetual license,. Hosted on-premise, by Cherwell or by a third party.

Offers multiple ways to achieve the same outcome (e.g. creating a change request) meaning that users can work whichever way best suits them and their requirements

Mature change calendar with drag and drop functionality and ability to create changes direct from the calendar view

Robust collision detection

Requires experience and an increased investment in time to implement release management if your existing process is complex

ITinvolve

ITinvolve Service Manager is a progressive and ambitious product.Uniquely combining knowledge capture, analysis, and social collaboration, Service Manager proactively delivers timely and relevant information whenever needed. The solution greatly reduces the burden on staff and ensures risk can be quickly and accurately assessed.Saas based, Service Manager is licenced per user with an additional annual cost for the platform.

Advanced and proactive delivery of knowledge

Dynamic identification, analysis and engagement of changes

Key settings can be recorded against individual items/objects and are immediately obvious from all areas of the application

No drag and drop or create functionality from within the calendar

TOPdesk

TOPdesk 5 is a visually pleasing and easy to navigate tool.TOPdesk’s modular structure accommodates a wide range of requirements from different sized organisations. All products include extensive reporting options, clear overviews and a handy Plan Board for planning resources.Web-based hosted as a service or on-site Service Management software, TOPdesk has made the transition from IT into Facilities Management and HR.

Tabbed working (ability to have more than one active record open at a time)

Attractive GUI which will be appealing to the wider business

Form Designer is not available to customers of the Professional version

No drag and drop capability on change/release calendar

Blackout and maintenance windows not created against Configuration Item (CI) or Service but instead in the Event and Actions module

Customers

Analysis

Vendor

Functionality

Competitive Differentiators

Analysis

Axios

Mature, well-rounded tool covering the larger end of the ITSM market with solid change, configuration and release functionality with strong risk assessment capabilities.

Assyst offers solid change, configuration and release functionality with strong risk assessment capabilities. I therefore believe that it is a good offering for both large and enterprise organisations with moderate to mature change processes in place.

Cherwell

Functionality rich and user friendly tool ensures that no matter how you want to do something you’re likely to be able to do it.

Fully integrated management processes that are 100% configurable against an organisation’s current and future service request models, without the need to write a single line of code via programming or scripting services

Integrated Platform as a Service (PaaS) technology to empower users to easily develop and deliver integrated business services offerings

Quick, easy, and seamless system upgrades, as well as low cost of ownership for on-going system management overheads

Unless you are an organisation with advanced or complex release management requirements, I highly recommend that you consider Cherwell Service Management as your tool of choice.

ITinvolve

Progressive, ambitious and agile product with exceptional use of knowledge and collaboration to underpin Change, Configuration and Release as well as all other processes.

Comprehensive understanding of not only configuration dependencies but also compliance and key settings

Knowledge is proactively delivered to IT staff in the context of the change/release being created/worked on

Despite the lack of drag and drop and create option functionality from within the calendar, regardless of the size of your organisation I strongly believe that you can’t go wrong with considering ITinvolve Service Manager as your ITSM solution for Change, Configuration and Release.

TOPdesk

Modern, attractive and easy to navigate tool which is likely to appeal to the wider business as well as IT.

Integrates multiple support processes into a unified system, which can be used by the wider business

Licensing structure is based on the number of end users rather than operators

Comprehensive and modular solution that allows customers to add new processes as they grow

If you are a purely reactive IT organisation, of basic to moderate maturity, with a low to medium number of change requests, then the Enterprise or Ultimate offering of TOPdesk 5 would be a suitable candidate for your organisation.

Deep Dive

Further details for each vendor can be found by using the links below:

Disclaimer, Scope and Limitations

The information contained in this review is based on sources and information believed to be accurate as of the time it was created. Therefore, the completeness and current accuracy of the information provided cannot be guaranteed. Readers should therefore use the contents of this review as a general guideline, and not as the ultimate source of truth.

Similarly, this review is not based on rigorous and exhaustive technical study. The ITSM Review recommends that readers complete a thorough live evaluation before investing in technology.

This is a paid review, that is, the vendors included in this review paid to participate in exchange for all results and analysis being published free of charge, without registration.

For further information, please read the ‘Group Tests’ section, on our Disclosure page.